Grill’d. A place to eat burgers…

Grill’d at Coolangatta. A place to eat burgers and look at scantily clad women and guys with really big arms…

Another contender for the trendy-and-maybe-a-little-bit-healthier-fast-food-chain-of-the-year award. These guys do make a good burger.

From seemingly humble beginnings in Sydney they have grown to a chain of at least two restaurants. A fact I can bare testament to as I ate at the second one in Coolangatta, on the Gold Coast.

The best thing about this place    

They sell beer. It’s no pussy assed HJs or Maccas, they sell beer. The alcoholic stuff. You know what you always need to have with your lunch when you’re on holiday? Beer! We were in a winning position right here folks. This was Lance Armstrong hitting the finish line on the Champs-Elysees. This is the fifteen-year-old boy who has got the condom on and the girl is still there, in his bed, ready. This is the puppy who has just realised he can lick his own gear. WINNING.

The second best thing about this place

They do really good burgers. Homemade and all the trendiest shit the burger world has to offer; hand made beef patties, great condiments, locally made buns, chips with special salt, pretty drawings all over the walls and semi-uniforms which are reminiscent of 50s burger Betties. I loved the whole package and quite frankly that’s all that counts to me.

I had the Crispy Bacon and Cheese, $11.50. Grass fed beef, crispy trim bacon, cheese, relish & herb mayo. It was a damn good burger and had the perfect amount of toppings. Yes, perfect amount (and perfect isn’t a word I chuck about lightly)! I really despise a dry, under adequate burger. On the flipside I am well renowned for filling a burger to the brink of making it impossible to eat unless you are the real life snake-man complete with unhingable jaw. So this… how you say… perfect amount of toppings was something of a revelation for me. The only small qualm I will mention is the menu stated the bacon would be crispy… it was flaccid. Flaccid like the new prisoner who has just met his cell mate, “Big Black”. But that’s all.

Jen had the Hot Hombre, $12.50, on a gluten free bun. Not because she thought a gluten free bun sounded extra delicious but because her body cannot handle the dreaded gluten. As far a gluten free burger options in the world, I haven’t come across heaps… or even any burger joints that are willing to touch it (except for the “no bun” option). This was a successful attempt at making something that would normally be glutinous, but now contained no gluten, palatable and passable as a burger. Kudos for that, as normally this is done about as much success as an octopus tying its shoelace… and what the hell is that octopus doing wearing shoes?? Grilled chicken breast, chilli black bean salsa, cheese, avocado, tomato, onion & crisp tortilla chip, she was a very happy little Jennee. No complaints from this beered up young lady today. She even commented that the tortilla chip was an awesome touch… a bit like me, I guess.

The boys ate some burgers to, but I was too busy enjoying my time to notice them.

We also got Chips with that magical herb salt $4.50, all three Chip Dips (herbed mayo, tomato relish, sweet chilli mayo) $0.70ea and a handful of Corona, 4 for $20.00.

All good. I would go back for sure. I think I’ve mentioned that they do really good burgers at least 3 times in this post so you should go there too… unless you don’t like burgers, in which case just down the road is a sushi joint called O-Sushi… they have a sushi train and all the extras plus they do a cracking mixed aburi plate and they wear bandanas so they must be the real thing!